


All Hallows' Eve

by Magentas_Nightmare



Series: Merle Dixon Oneshots [56]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/M, Halloween story, Merle and Andrea 4 ever!!!, Romantic Spooky Story, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:41:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magentas_Nightmare/pseuds/Magentas_Nightmare
Summary: Andrea has had a tough year living without the love of her life when he is killed in an accident. When Halloween night comes, she finds herself in the company of her lost love once again...
Relationships: Andrea/Merle Dixon
Series: Merle Dixon Oneshots [56]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1337284
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	All Hallows' Eve

_Graveyard Whistling - Nothing But Thieves_

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rqlATy9V6c_

_Darling Be Home Soon - John Sebastian_

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9afV7h-XkU_

* * *

  
  


> **All Hallows' Eve**

  
  


The leaves on the trees that lined the street were golden yellow now, and red, and amber, and brown. Merle loved the fall more than any other season and especially now he was all Andrea could think of but that was nothing new. He had been gone for almost a year and she still felt the same as the day the police showed up on her doorstep. Being a widow would never be OK with her, it never got easier.

Maybe if he hadn't been her very best friend, maybe if being with him hadn't been the greatest joy of her whole life, perhaps then she could see some light in the future.

Everyone in her life insisted that she would meet someone new and that Merle would want that for her but she couldn't care less. She knew well enough that nothing would ever feel like his arms around her, nothing would sound like his gravelly voice in her ear, nothing could compare to the love they shared.

She was lost in a dark ocean of these thoughts when she arrived at home after another long day. Andrea was ready for Halloween now, with 3 bags of candy and a great big pumpkin to carve. Their street was always very active on Halloween night...but now it wasn't their street, it was just hers.

She walked up the path with grocery bags in her hands and observed a black cat sitting on the step as if it lived there.

“You're bad luck, kitty, and I don't need any more bad luck.”

The green-eyed spook turned up its nose at her assessment and stayed put as she pulled out her keys to unlock the door.

Inside the house she noted a flashing light on her answering machine and shook her head, knowing damn well who it was. Shane was an ex-friend of Merle's and had decided recently that he ought to be the one she moved on with. Andrea found the very idea to be out of the question and had told him only a few days ago that she wasn't ready to move on, but he wasn't listening.

Andrea was never going to be ready to move on and she was comfortable with that but she couldn't say it to anyone else. If she admitted to her friends that she genuinely never wanted to be with anyone new they'd say she wasn't coping and insist on finding her some 'help.' She had to keep saying that she just wasn't ready, she had even considered making up a fake boyfriend to get people off her back but she was proud to still be true to Merle even if nobody else understood it.

She plopped the huge pumpkin on the kitchen table and recalled the time Merle put one on his head to scare children at the door. He was always doing stupid things like that to make her laugh and she missed it every day. They had been an odd couple from the start but he had the truest heart and nobody would ever measure up.

She made a quick grilled cheese sandwich for supper and turned on some music to begin carving the pumpkin.

  
  


_**All that afterlife** _

_**I don't hold with it** _

_**All your gods are false** _

_**Just get used to it** _

_**Let's go out tonight** _

_**Kill some stubborn myths** _

_**Set those ghosts alight, get into it.** _

  
  


_**No one's getting younger** _

_**Would you like a souvenir?** _

_**Let it take you under,** _

_**Feel your worries disappear** _

  
  


_**'Cause if you don't believe, it can't hurt you** _

_**And when you let it leave, it can't hurt you** _

_**'Cause if you don't believe, then you know** _

_**Then you know it can never do you harm** _

_**'Cause if you don't believe, it can't hurt you** _

  
  


  
  


The pumpkin had a happy face in the end and she held it up to try to mimic its expression but failed.

  
  


“God, I miss you like crazy on night's like this.”

  
  


She would still talk to Merle sometimes and had moved past worrying if it meant she was crazy, she didn't honestly care anymore.

Andrea cleaned up the few dishes she had and placed the jack-o-lantern on the front step. It was 5 pm and she smiled as she noted the first trick-or-treaters on the street. A little witch and her mother started walking up the path to her door so she had to run and grab the candy she bought. Merle would have been on the couch working through a bag all to himself by now if he were still alive.

“Trick-or-treat!” the little girl called through the half-open door.

“Be right there!”

Andrea returned to the door and offered the little witch 3 tiny candy bars.

“Happy Halloween!” she beamed.

She was still very good at feigning absolute joy.

“Thanks,” the girl's mother smiled and they were gone.

The rest of the evening went that way. Andrea sat on a chair by the door with her tablet randomly scrolling Twitter as child after child arrived for candy. The last boy at the door was only 8 but had an unusually deep voice for a child and she thought of Merle. According to Daryl, Merle had had that same voice pretty much since birth and she wished she could have known him as a boy. He would have been so cute.

/

It was beginning to slow down around 9 pm and Andrea decided to open the bottle of wine she had picked up to drink away the evening. Truth be told, she was drinking a lot more lately.

She was just starting to partake of the remaining candy when she heard a voice through the screen door, a voice belonging to someone she didn't have the energy to argue with.

“Hey there!” Shane began. “Happy Halloween!”

“Hi, Shane...I was just kinda turning in for the night here.”

“I have a treat for you here, no tricks!” he pressed.

Andrea sighed and got up from the couch to meet him at the door.

“Hey, come on in.”

“I'm not bothering you, am I?”

“I'm just a little tired tonight...been a long week.”

“I called earlier. Did you get my message?”

“Not yet. I was carving the pumpkin and getting ready for all the kids.”

“It's all right,” he grinned. “I forgive 'ya.”

Andrea was in her own home and didn't feel she should have to answer to anyone. If she didn't have time or just didn't feel like answering her phone she didn't have to. He was just playing around, and she knew that, but it still annoyed her. Shane was clearly trying to become her new man and she resented every second of it. In her heart, she would always belong to Merle.

“Look, I don't mean to pressure you...but I was hoping that you had time to think about what I said. I think we could be great together. I know Merle wouldn't want you to be alone forever.”

She was determined to not lose it with him but to hear what her dead husband would have wanted from some guy he used to drink beer and watch sports with was infuriating.

“I know you mean well, and I do think you're a very nice guy...but I'm really just not ready yet. I know it doesn't make sense to you and many other people but Merle was the love of my life and I'm not finished mourning him yet.”

“It's been a year,” he carried on with a little grin as if she was being ridiculous.

“It takes the time it takes.”

“How much more time do you need?” he asked.

“I have no idea...maybe I'll never be ready.”

“Andrea, people are starting to worry about you.”

“It's only been a year! When was I supposed to fall into bed with a new man, right after the funeral?” she exclaimed.

She had every right to never fuck another man as long as she lived. She had the right to call herself Mrs. Merle Dixon until the day she died if she wanted to. How dare anyone tell her she was grieving incorrectly?

“Andrea, we all care about you.”

“I can't do this right now, Shane. It's been a long day.”

“Fine.”

He was acting like a child and she wasn't interested in taking the bait.

“I'll see you later. I just need an early night,” she smiled, trying to be calm and friendly.

“I want to be patient...but I'm not sure how much longer I can stand in line behind a dead man.”

“Then don't, because that 'dead man' still owns my heart,” she growled.

Shane was frustrated with not getting his own way and stormed out of her home, leaving her emotionally spent and wondering what the future would bring.

She finished her glass of wine and then immediately poured another. Andrea wandered over to the stereo after locking the front door. She put on some music, something to bring Merle back to her for a moment.

  
  


_**Come** _

_**And talk of all the things we did today** _

_**Here** _

_**And laugh about our funny little ways** _

_**While we have a few minutes to breathe** _

_**Then I know that it's time you must leave** _

_**But, darling, be home soon** _

_**I couldn't bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdled** _

_**My darling, be home soon** _

_**It's not just these few hours, but I've been waiting since I toddled** _

_**For the great relief of having you to talk to** _

  
  


Andrea stood before Merle's record player, watching the record spin. He used to dance with her to this song. Merle used to hold her and lay her down on their bed and fuck her to this song.

After one more glass of wine, Andrea began to feel dizzy and had to lay back on the couch.

She could hear his voice through the fog then and couldn't help but smile.

“You're fuckin' hooped, honey!”

“Shut up,” she smiled with her eyes still closed.

“You never could handle your wine, or beer, or whisky, but I love you anyway.”

She could really hear his voice then, she was sure of it, and it scared her. Maybe she had finally cracked. The room was darker then as if a few hours had passed since she last looked around herself and she felt a chill in the air that made her feel lost.

“Merle?”

“Yeah?”

The voice was distant but it was 100% real.

“Jesus!” she shuddered as she shot up like a bolt, on the couch.

“Merle?”

She could see a shadow down the hallway then and she jumped to her feet, ready to run for the door.

“Back off! Whoever you are....just get the hell out!” she shouted.

“I thought all this time you been missin' me and now I ain't even welcome in my own house?”

Then there he was. Andrea broke down crying.

“No...you aren't here.”

Merle looked amused but she was sure that her mind was lost and nothing had ever scared her more. She was sure she was keeping herself sane, she was sad and maybe not coping at optimal levels, but she was sane...wasn't she? The prickly fear she was feeling only spread over more of her flesh as the figure moved toward her.

“You know what I like?” he began. “I really like how you told Shane that I'm still your man.”

It sounded just like him and he looked so real but she knew he was gone.

“Merle...don't do this to me...I'm scared.”

“I'm not here to hurt you, honey.”

“Why are you here?” she begged to know. “Am I losing my mind?”

He walked closer to her and it was so real that she knew she must be going completely crazy, but having him standing right in front of her felt so good. She needed him so badly and had since the day he died. If this was insanity, she wanted it more than the painful reality she existed in.

“You need to stop thinking so much. You were always like that...what you need is to just hush your mouth and kiss me.”

“But-”

Before she could regain her train of thought, he was on her, just like he always was. Merle was fire from the very first night they became a couple and she knew from the way he felt in her arms and the perfection of his kiss, that this was him. This was the man she married and even if it wasn't, she needed whoever was touching her now.

He pulled her down to the living room carpet then and she realized he was wearing the same shirt he'd worn the last time she saw him. The night he was killed, he had that red flannel shirt on, and although she remembered clearly accepting it back from the staff at the hospital when he died, she was feeling it against the palms of her hands. All that mattered at that moment was the way he was touching her and the sensation of his kiss.

The tears were still cool and wet on her cheeks but she felt the heat of his embrace and fell right into it headfirst. In the real world was Shane pressuring her to move on and the endless monotony of life. This insanity had Merle and his voice and his kiss and his hands...it was an easy choice.

He lay her back on the carpet then and she refused to question it as his mouth found her neck.

“I know you're not really here but I don't care. I love you so much. I miss you every day. I'm still your girl.”

“I'm here,” he insisted. “I got you and I'm not letting you go now...”

She didn't know what he meant and it didn't matter. Merle was moving his kisses down her body to her belly and his strong hands were gripping her waist and then her hips.

No man had ever made her as wild inside as Merle Dixon. His big work-weathered hands, his tight ass and his gorgeous face were all she could ever want. He had always been crazy for her too, from day one he wasn't shy to let her know that she was the only woman for him. One blind date was all it took for them both to fall head over heels, but all they got together was 3 years.

She could feel that familiar heaven as he thrust against her and pulled her right leg up onto his lower back.

“You make me so hard, baby,” he groaned. “Why do you gotta be so fuckin' beautiful?”

“God I love you,” she whimpered. “You're all I need. Don't leave me again, please.”

“I'm not leaving without you, honey.”

“What do you mean?”

“Shhhh...let's get you outta these jeans. I want what's mine. You even said yourself that you're still my girl.”

“Always, baby...always.”

He kissed down her bare legs to her ankles and then right back up to her panties and then it went way off the rails. He breathed his hot breath against her womanhood and she cried out for him to finish her fast.

“It's been so long, Merle. Please, don't tease me.”

“Alright, alright...you want me that bad, you got it,” he grinned.

There was nothing in the world like his smile, from the first time he grinned at her on that blind date she knew he was one of a kind. Merle was always 100% genuine with her and she'd never met anyone like him.

Her arms were pulled over her head and he continued to thrust against her mercilessly. Andrea was completely overcome and surrendered to the encounter despite it likely being a dream, but she couldn't recall falling asleep.

They were entangled in each other in no time, right there on the floor where it often happened. He was kissing her ravenously and stripping her bare as he pushed his own pants down his thighs.

“I gotta have you again...I get to keep you this time,” he panted.

She didn't know what he meant and she didn't care. For some reason, she was able to feel the love of her life over her again, taste his kiss, and hear his voice. Nothing mattered except enjoying the moment, real or not, it was the only joy she'd had all year.

“Tell me this isn't a dream. Tell me I can keep you. I can't live without you, I've tried.”

He was sucking her breasts by then and running his hard cock slowly up and down her wet slit.

“Want that? Want me like you always did? Tell me I'm the only one...tell me you'd give it all up to be with me again...”

“You know I would, this life means nothing to me without you. No man will ever turn my head again. You're all I ever needed.”

Then he was inside her and the heat of the moment overcame her. Andrea arched her back and her eyes rolled back into her head. Merle groaned and fucked her just like always, looking down at her like a prize he had won against all odds. He kissed her then, holding her head in his big hand.

“Cum for me, honey...”

He slid one hand down to tease her clit as he railed her just right.

It was always blinding, what Merle could do with his hands and it didn't take long to break.

“Oh God, baby, yes! Mmmmm....”

She shuddered once and felt the orgasm of a lifetime begin to radiate out from her core to every extremity at once. She was filled with love and bliss like a white light and she felt weightless then, drifting away on a cool autumn breeze.

/

When she opened her eyes again, they were laying in bed together like the last year had been the world's longest nightmare and he had never left her alone.

“What's happening?” she begged to know.

“Just rest now, Andrea. Soon it will all make complete sense. You trust me, right?”

“Of course I do. How could you ask me that?”

“Then just close your eyes and go to sleep. Hold me tight and just sleep.”

“Will you still be here when I wake up?” she asked.

“We'll never be apart again. Now rest.”

Andrea closed her eyes, pulled him closer, and allowed herself to drift away into a peaceful sleep.

  
  


####################################

  
  


“What took you so long?” Shane grumbled.

“I got here as soon as I could. What's the rush anyway? I heard she was dodging you pretty good. She's probably just ignoring you,” Rick laughed.

“She didn't go to work today, nobody has seen her around. You have to check on her!” Shane pressed.

“Alright alright,” Rick muttered.

They both banged on Andrea's door and called through a half-open window for a good ten minutes before Rick decided to use the spare key under her mat and check things out. It was a small town and Rick had known Andrea since grade school. This wasn't technically proper protocol but he was starting to legitimately worry.

“Andrea!” Shane called, heading down the hallway while Rick decided to check the basement.

“Just wanted to check on you!” Rick bellowed. “Just let us know you're OK and we'll get outta your hair!”

“Rick!!!”

Rick jumped out of his skin and raced up the stairs. Shane wasn't the hysterical type and he had a feeling this was bad.

“What is it?” he panted, coming around the corner and into her bedroom.

“Is she dead?” Shane was repeating. “She looks dead! Is she dead?”

Rick knew without a word that Andrea was, in fact, dead. She looked somehow eerily blissful, but she was dead.

They left the house to await the coroner and later discovered that it had been an accidental carbon monoxide death. Shane felt guilty for a long time afterward that the last time they spoke had been so unpleasant, but he couldn't help thinking that maybe she would be happier with Merle in heaven than on Earth with him.

  
  


####################################

  
  


Andrea stretched and yawned and from somewhere above her there was a warmth flooding down on her like she was at the beach; it didn't make sense. She reached out her hands and found Merle's body lying next to hers. The last thing she'd expected was for him to still be there. What kind of dream was this?

When her eyes opened, she discovered that their bed was outdoors, beneath a buckeye tree...the same tree under which he had proposed to her.

“Merle!” she exclaimed, sitting up swiftly and shaking him by the shoulder.

“Hey, darlin', thought you'd never wake up,” he grinned as he turned to her. “Don't be scared.”

“What's happened? I lost my mind, didn't I?” she winced.

“Honey...this is heaven.”

“What?”

“Do you remember when I was alive and I'd call the furnace guy every year to get it inspected-”

“What the hell are you talking about?” she interrupted.

“Andrea, you didn't get the furnace checked. You passed away last night. That's why I was there...to bring you home.”

“Carbon monoxide...” she whispered.

“Yeah, and before you ask, I couldn't stop it. This is all up to the man who writes the rules. He did allow me to bring you here though.”

“This is real? I'm really dead?” she asked.

“It's not so bad...although, I gotta tell 'ya I was surprised to be allowed up here after all my rowdy days. He really does forgive us though, God is good like that.”

A breeze blew her hair and she could smell lilacs.

“Did you choose this place as your heaven?” she asked.

“I spent my boyhood under this buckeye tree and it was the place I asked you to be mine forever. This is the only place I want to spend eternity. I thought I'd have to wait another 50 years or so, to see you again, and I happily would have...but this was just your time, I guess.”

“There was nothing left down there for me...all I wanted was to be with you again. This is the best day of my...well...you know what I mean,” she smiled.

“I missed you so much,” he said. “All I did all year was cry under this tree and think of you.”

“No more crying, baby,” she smiled. “We'll never be apart again.”

  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  



End file.
